Guy Maddin has spent his career trying to replicate the 1920’s German
and Russian silent filmmakers’ styles. To see today’s stars, like
Isabella Rossellini, splashed on the silver screen in The Saddest Music in the World in archaic textured film is a surreal experience. But Maddin has taken surreal to a whole new level in his latest film, My Winnipeg.
Described by Maddin as a "Docu-fantasia," My Winnipeg
portrays the director’s hometown and his experiences growing up there.
The film is somewhat of therapy for Maddin, putting down in writing
and on the big screen many of his remembrances, thoughts, opinions, and
stories he heard while growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The
melding of melo-dramatic silent-film style cinematography with archival
footage from the past gives the film a real nostalgic feel.
The
documentary aspects illuminate the town and its
history, and reflect the original intent of the film. Madden was
originally commissioned by Michael Burns of the Documentary Channel in
Canada to do an "enchanting" documentary that looks past the frozen
tundra cliché about Winnipeg. In this vain, the film’s cinematography
and use of archival footage present some beautiful imagery of Winnipeg.
But
it was impossible for Maddin to ignore the personal attachments and
experiences he had to the city while growing up, and do a straight
documentary. His Winnipeg wasn’t just the stories and history that were
going on around him. It had to include the real-life circumstances and
dramas of his childhood. So, he chose to use his distinctly nostalgic
filmmaking style to re-create specific situations from his childhood in
the movie. But he didn’t stop at just filming these situations, he
actually rented out his childhood home to film the scenes where they
actually happened.
Maddin
admits that there was some catharsis involved in the process. This is a
real treat for viewers, though, as there is a rare vulnerability and
self-disclosure of a filmmakers’ personal life. Maddin also narrates
the film in a poetic fashion by talking about Winnepeg, ruminating
about his experiences there and even riffing Jack Karouac-style on his
city.
There is no doubt that Guy Maddin has a connection to his hometown, and in My Winnipeg he lays it all out for everyone to see in dramatic black and white, surrounded by colorful words.